Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Spotify Is Planning a New Version of Its Free Music Service (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the up-next dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Spotify Technology is developing a new version of its free music service, the first big product change since the streaming company went public last week, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is tweaking the free service to make it easier to use, especially for customers on mobile phones, said the people. An announcement is expected within a couple weeks. Spotify needs to attract large numbers of new listeners to satisfy investors who value the newly public company based on user growth. The free service generates customers that the company can steer into its paid offerings. The paid version accounts for less than half of Spotify's customer base, but generated about 90 percent of its 4.09 billion euros in 2017 revenue. [...] With the updated service, free mobile listeners will be able to access playlists more quickly and have more control over what songs they hear on top playlists, mimicking Spotify's ad-free subscription product. The basic package is $9.99 a month.

8 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. The basic package is $9.99 a month. by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And here lies the problem. If I can subscribe to Netflix and watch TV shows and movies for less than $10 per month, then I want to pay less than Netflix to listen to music.

    At $5 per month I'd start to think about it. At $3 per month I wouldn't even think about it and just subscribe.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
    1. Re:The basic package is $9.99 a month. by ctilsie242 · · Score: 3, Informative

      For $10 a month, I can watch YouTube Red and use the YouTube Music app, which seems to have more bands that are not carried by Spotify. Plus, what sets them apart from Google Music or Apple Music, either of which I wouldn't require additional software to work?

    2. Re:The basic package is $9.99 a month. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Support FM broadcast radio which has always been free (and I don't want to hear anyone say "oh but it's not free there are commercials!", stop whining and turn down the damned volume or switch to another station if you can't handle it).

      Problem is that all the stations seem to go to commercial at the same time. I'm not willing to listen to 20-30 minutes of commercials an hour on FM radio. I quit listening in 2002 and have no plans to ever listen again. The few times I have had to (rental car) I had to turn it off. The commercial load is just ridiculous.

    3. Re:The basic package is $9.99 a month. by gnick · · Score: 2

      My $5 Pandora subscription streams commercial-free with as many skips as I want. For $10, I could pick specific songs. It's well worth the $5; I don't understand the comparison with Netflix. It's lower bandwidth, sure, but I spend a LOT bigger part of the day streaming music than I do watching Netflix. So, $/GB, music's much more expensive. $/hour, for me, music's much cheaper.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    4. Re:The basic package is $9.99 a month. by ScienceofSpock · · Score: 2

      While his "20-30 mins of commercials an hour" is a bit of an exaggeration, it's not THAT big of an exaggeration. When you consider all the promos they do, "partnering" with local businesses, self promotions and all the other crap, you end up with about 20 mins of music an hour. And Clear Channel owns a very large number of stations, usually owning multiple stations in large metro areas, so yeah, changing the station in those areas is likely to get you nothing but more commercials.

      Personally, I stopped listening to the radio a long time ago, but still check it from time to time to see how bad it has gotten, and GP isn't far off from the truth, at least not here in Vegas.

    5. Re:The basic package is $9.99 a month. by Samurai+Nigel · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's awful, and that's the point. When Clear Channel... sorry, "iHeartMedia" owns 75% of the channels in your market (and every market) they absolutely do time their commercials together.

      I stopped supporting FM radio a LONG time ago.

    6. Re:The basic package is $9.99 a month. by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Yeah, except in addition to commercials, I also have to endure all their "sound effects SOUND EFFECTS sOuNd EfFeCtS" and the ramblings of some obnoxious DJ telling me the "funny" story of how they were filling up their car this morning and SPILLED GAS ON MY NEW SHOES HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

      Oh my god this and a bowl of fruitloops. I don't turn off radio so much for the commercials as I do the fucking Dj and other annoying shit they stick in. Morning shows are the worse. I drove across town one morning, 45 minutes and didn't hear one song. Nothing but morning dj's rambling on about what ever they through was important. Which none of it was. The it was "Bong Bong Bong" every 5 fucking minutes.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  2. Fix the bugs by robkeeney · · Score: 2

    It would help a lot if they'd fix the bugs in the player. I'm not going to pay anything for a buggy app. Also, they need to do a much better job differentiating artists with the same name.